THE LONG DARK - VISUAL ENHANCEMENTS UPDATE - Now Live!

[Admin]

Major Release
Visual Enhancements Update
For THE LONG DARK, SURVIVAL MODE, and TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY - Survival v 2.42 156298
Steam, Epic Games Store

 

Introduction

Hello players,

We have just updated THE LONG DARK to version 2.42, build 156298 and WINTERMUTE to version 2.13, build 156040.

This is a free update available to anyone who owns THE LONG DARK or SURVIVAL EDITION, and includes visual enhancement options targeted at high-end systems, various bug fixes, and tuning changes.

For a description of the Visual Enhancements, please watch the latest Update Video:

 

 

VISUAL ENHANCEMENTS

 

We have added a collection of visual enhancements targeting high-end systems, including Coloured Shadows, Terrain Blending, Improved Anti-Aliasing, and other features mentioned above. Keep in mind these are all optional features, to be enabled in the Display  and Advanced Settings, and can be turned on or off depending on your preferences.

RECOMMENDED SYSTEM SPEC

If you would like to enable all visual enhancements and run at a target of 60FPS at 2560 x 1440 resolution, we recommend a PC using an Nvidia RTX 3060 GPU or equivalent, 3GHz or faster CPU, and 32GB of system RAM.

Unfortunately, with so many different PC hardware combinations available, it’s impossible for us to guarantee your specific hardware combination will work. However, we believe these general hardware recommendations will result in a very consistent, graphically maximized experience. 

Please remember that these features are targeted at higher-end hardware, and we can offer no guarantees regarding performance on your specific combination of PC hardware. 

ALLOWING RUINED ITEMS IN CRAFTING/RECIPES

Earlier this year, we updated the game to address a longstanding exploit around the use of Ruined food items in Cooking recipes. Our implementation was not very robust and introduced other issues.

Fixing this issue correctly will involve overhauling various game systems related to food, Condition decay, how wildlife respond to raw meat, and risks involved with consuming low-Condition food items. These changes are likely to change various aspects of the game, including long-running strategies players have employed for years. As the team is focused on finishing Episode Five, we are postponing making these broader changes until the Episode is shipped.

Until then, we have reverted back to the previous behaviour -- which allowed Ruined food items to be used in Recipes -- and we will revisit these systems post-Episode Five and provide longer-term fixes for them.

RARE TRADE ITEMS & CANNED GOODS

We also heard the feedback that many players with very long-running games ran into the issue of being locked out of some of the higher-end Recipes (in the Frontier Cooking system) due to key items like Canned Peaches having decayed in the world by the time you unlocked this system. 

To help address that, until we can make the bigger aforementioned changes, we have temporarily returned the Condition loss for several Canned items, making them last longer. We have also modified some of the Trader’s costs to balance against the availability of some of these key items (including Canned Peaches, Carrots, and Potatoes). These changes should make it more viable for you to benefit from some of these advanced Recipes in your long-running saves.

TRAVOIS

We are addressing multiple issues with the Travois, where it can rarely fall under specific locations in the game world. In the short-term, if you lose your Travois, you should be able to find it -- along with any items in it -- stored in the Lost & Found box in the Region you are in. We continue to monitor this issue and will make additional fixes as we get more information from players who have encountered this problem.

There was a related issue where rarely, a Lost & Found box was itself hidden under the terrain or unreachable. We have fixed this issue as well.

FINAL TRADER MISSION

Many players had encountered an issue where they were blocked from completing Sutherland’s final quest, and were unable to complete the questline. While this didn’t block progression with the Trading system in general, it is still frustrating. We have fixed this issue, and it should now be possible to complete Sutherland’s quest (specifically, Special Request #5).

 

Known Issues

The team is currently aware of the following issues in the game. If you encounter one of these issues, there is no need to report it to the Support Portal. 

• There are edge-cases where Safehouse Decorations can disappear from an interior, container, or the player’s inventory. Items lost this way should now appear in Lost and Found boxes.
• Players with Texture Resolution lower than “Full” and Terrain Blending “Enabled” may see black outlines along certain terrain features. This can be resolved by ensuring that Texture Resolution is set to “Full” when utilizing the Terrain Blending Advanced Visual Option.
• Mac players with Motion Blur set to “High” will find Carcasses become extremely blurred during Harvesting. Setting Motion Blur to Low will reduce this effect until a fix is applied.
• Rarely, the Survival home menu will load with missing items and assets. Changing any visual setting will resolve this issue.

Bug Fixes

This Major Update includes fixes for the following issues:

GAMEPLAY, UI, CONTROLS

• Re-enabled (temporarily) the use of Ruined ingredients in Crafting and Cooking Recipes.
• Tuned several Canned food items to last much longer in the world.
• Tuned raw and cooked Meat types to last much longer in the world. 
• Adjusted Tales From the Far Territory cooked fish to bring their decay rates in line with non-DLC cooked fish.
• Tuned Canned Dog Food, Condensed Milk, and Tomato Soup to bring outdoor decay rates into line with other canned items.
• Added Canned Peaches, Carrots, and Potatoes to Trader Requests. It is now possible to obtain these food types via the Trading system.
• Fixed an issue that resulted in the Trader's fifth Special Request becoming impossible to complete.
• Fixed an issue in Bleak Inlet where the Lost and Found box in that Region was too close to a cave transition volume, resulting in it being impossible to interact and open.
• Fixed an issue that resulted in the Lost and Found box in Keeper's Pass being inaccessible beneath terrain. The Lost and Found box is now located in front of the abandoned trailer on the road to Blackrock.
• Fixed an issue in Carter Hydroelectric Dam resulting in placed items being able to intersect chain-link fencing.

ART & ENVIRONMENTS

• Fixed an issue in Blackrock Prison which caused large sections of the prison buildings to disappear when viewed from specific locations and angles.
• Fixed an issue in Blackrock where Rosehip bushes could be found floating above ground.

  
   

  ### END OF ANNOUNCEMENT ###

 

[Leeanda]

Thank you all for the hard work..💗

 

 

 

 

[Mortan1234]

Going to take me a bit to download the update, but i am excited for it. 

Glad to see potatoes are going to be available via trader. 

[Pyroxene]

Looking forward to July

I appreciate delivering the game on all platforms 

[Deer RudolF]

Hi

Will there be graphical enhancements available for story mode?

[Serenity]

I usually don't use TAA, but here it looks very nice at first glance. No more flickering power lines, grass, cat tail plants, distance trees or shadow edges. Everything looks crisp and clear.  SMAA didn't fix those unfortunately.

EDIT:
Seems it does introduce some noticeable blurriness when animals move around. Gotta test this some more during a real game with hunting and such. Might be preferable overall, since a lot of the time you're in more static scenes.

Edited May 27 by Serenity

[The Feng Hunter]

Today is a good to (not) die (on Great Bear Island)! 

Thank you!!

[Winnard]

this is so bugged 

[Player_Support]

4 minutes ago, Winnard said:

this is so bugged 

@Winnard Please report all bugs to us so we can get them logged: https://hinterlandgames.zendesk.com/hc/en-us

Thanks! 👌

[ManicManiac]

Excited to see what enhancements I might be able to use with my current hardware...
Though, I think I will need to prioritize getting some new hardware soon.  

Thank you, Hinterland.  

[Fuarian]

What was updated on the Wintermute side? It says it was updated to version 2.13, build 156040

 

[Dan_]

I've experienced an issue where the loading screen scene on the Vacant Depot was looking very much like a house you would typically see on the Flintstones. 

I run a low end system so I guess the game defaulted these options to off. Changing these back to On fixed the issue for me, game is looking beautiful. Well done!

[Player_Support]

1 minute ago, Dan_ said:

I've experienced an issue where the loading screen scene on the Vacant Depot was looking very much like a house you would typically see on the Flintstones. 

I run a low end system so I guess the game defaulted these options to off. Changing these back to On fixed the issue for me, game is looking beautiful. Well done!

Hey @Dan_ Glad you worked that out and we're so happy you appreciate the update so far 🙂 Feel free to keep an eye on our Known Issues page for logged issues and workarounds!

[Edsel]

@Player_Supportany time line for the nintendo switch update?

[Smellyfries]

The only option I can't seem to find is colored fog, does that fall under colored shadows or a different setting?

[Player_Support]

41 minutes ago, Edsel said:

@Player_Supportany time line for the nintendo switch update?

I don't believe we have anything set in stone at this time.. I suggest subscribing to our News and Updates thread for that kind of info 🙂 

[Wandering Fire Keeper]

Just for reference, I have an older PC I built back in 2015-2016: i7-4790k, 16GB RAM and 1080ti 11GB

I have graphics on Ultra settings and in Advanced Visuals I turned on Additional Shadows for both Structures and Terrain, I turned on Terrain Blending and I turned up Small Detail Draw distance to 1.50. I set Large Detail Draw Distance, Tree Draw Distance, and Terrain Details Draw Distance all to max.

I loaded into a save in Mystery Lake Forestry Lookout during the start of an aurora. I could see bits of snow falling off the tower, and the wind blowing snow off the rooftop. I walked down to Camp Office and could see the snow blended at the base of the rocks and trees and the power lines sparking. I had no issue with pop-in that I noticed, or any issue at all with framerates.

I was really surprised, having an older rig that I didn't notice any issues with having all those settings set to high and Ultra. I wasn't on for very long though, but I'll do a playthrough very soon and report back if I have any issues. I don't think there will be though, knock on wood.

Edited May 28 by Wandering Fire Keeper
4790 not 470 lol

[AdamvR]

these are important fixes - agreed.
THANK YOU HINTERLAND!!!

[Sibilare]

Be testing out the trader bug, to see if it is fixed.

[Wingsrising]

Quote

• There are edge-cases where Safehouse Decorations can disappear from an interior, container, or the player’s inventory. Items lost this way should now appear in Lost and Found boxes.

Question: Does this apply to previously-lost safehouse decorations, or only ones that will be lost in the future?  Thought I'd ask before I head back to Blackrock again to see if any of my missing decorations have re-appeared.

(Also, I'd noticed before that when you lose a travois, the non-decorations will appear in a lost and found box, but the decorations do not.  I'd assumed that decorations just don't go into lost and found boxes and vanish when lost.  Has this been changed?)

[Ghurcb]

Wow, this update is amazing! TAA works perfectly for removing the flickering and stairs-like visuals of the powerlines and other objects edges of which are located in-between pixels on the screen. However, when comparing different anti-aliasing methods to each other, TAA is the only one I noticed any effects from. Did anyone notice any changes with FXAA or SMAA enabled? Do they look better in other cases? Are they less resource-demanding?

[Serenity]

SMAA should look better in motion when you're dealing with animals. It's a bit weird that it doesn't fix the flickering power lines, grass, trees or shadow edges though. TAA causes blurring since it uses data from different frames. Hence the "temporal" name.

FXAA is the least demanding but also the worst.

Edited May 28 by Serenity

[Nogen]

The visual enhancement are amazing!

Did not have time to play much yet, but I like a lot what I have seen so far. The blending of snow, with trees, rocks and houses is probably the thing that strike me the most so far.

As a reference, here my PC spec, which is far from being a war beast.

• CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K @ 3,5GHz
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB
• Memory: 32gb

My resolution is set at 1920x1080p (so standard HD), every visual parameters set at maximum and it run really smooth at 60-80 FPS. In fact, I could swear that it run smoother than before the update.

Good job!

Edited May 28 by Nogen

[Nervous Pete]

Bit of a mixed bag for my humbler PC but overall a worthy update! I'm running a Ryzen 5 2600X with 1060 8GB and 32GB RAM. I've found that Terrain Blending definitely gives the biggest hit on performance. I have a feeling that Post-Effects also does have a bit of a big impact. I'm running native at 1440p.

So far I've found a reasonable balance around this level:

Shadows Medium, Textures Ultra, SSAO Low, LOD / Large Detail High, Anisotropic 8x, TAA ON, Motion Blur Off, Post-Effects Medium. Advanced I set most distances to around 135 and Texture Blending On and Structure Shadows On. I actually set Terrain Shadows off as I slightly prefer the more picture-book uncluttered feel that gives. 

With the above I have a smooth 30fps (used to have 60fps) with performance only tanking at my most FPS damaging location - Island Cottage. For some reason my system freaks out at open structures. 

I tested the above at 1080p and it was a lot smoother at 45 - 60fps, so those with older PCs but 1080p monitors should be happy. For me, I'm pondering upgrading unless a Switch 2 version comes along, which I think should do reasonably well. 

I was wondering though with the distance sliders how they compare to the previous versions. Is 1.0 the standard older 'full' version and everything above that a multiplication, and vice-versa? 

 

[RobotDino11]

I posted this in the announcement thread for this update, but figured it might find more use here.

My system specs are as follows:

• Intel i7-13620H @ 2.40 Ghz
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060
• 16 GB RAM

 

I have all visual settings turned to MAX. Everything than can be tuned, especially to Full/Ultra, is.  And i'm not really having issues. Its running at around 100 fps, with an occasional lag spike every minute and 30 secs or so. 

But i'm seeing people with lower powered rigs performing just fine, so it looks like most people should be able to handle it.